Posts filed under: ‘Marvin Gaye‘
THE TIMES…Pastor Zackery Tims and Nicholas Ashford… gone…
First Zackery Tims …and now Nicholas Ashford.
Oh, I know… I know that Nick was not known for writing and singing gospel music. But no one can deny that he did come from a strong gospel background… that sometimes even managed to show up in his song writing and way of singing.
And what songs they were. He was gifted… and what he didn’t have …his partner and later to become his wife… Valerie Simpson had. Together they wrote some of Motow’s best known music. Songs like ‘Ain’t No Moutain High Enough,’ ‘It Takes Two,’ ‘Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s 
Hand’ ….just to name a few. And I do mean just a few… because their list does indeed truly go on and on.
For a while Val and Nick could be caught holding down the evening drive-time radio slot at WBLS,in New York City. In fact, 1 afternoon I decided to drop by BLS with the hope of getting in to see Vinny Brown, an old friend and co-worker who at the time was the Program Director for the station. While waiting …to my unexpected surprise as I happened to look up… standing before me were 2 people I would have had to be totally blind to not to have recognized from the very moment my eyes came up on them.
“Val and Nick,” I heard myself say… as my head jerked back slightly in surprise.
It just kind of eased out of my mouth… I hadn’t realized they were handling BLS’s on-air drive-time shift at that time. So, I was really surprised to look up and see them, standing right there before me… close enough for me to just reach out and touch them. Nick slightly smiled at me… while Val kind of looked off.
From the time I hit college Nick and Valerie had been busy in recording studios. So, I had 
looked at and played just about every album of their’s. Definitely a sign of the time… because most of the kids don’t even know what an album was …or a 45 for that matter. But yes …I had played Val and Nick for many years. And it didn’t hurt for me to be a big fan either… which meant as often as I could I would sneak them in on my music lists rotations.
As the years went on I didn’t have to continue to ease… I just played them… back to back …or 
however I wanted. Them and Phyllis Hyman… Donnie and Roberta… Friends of Distiction… Dells… Roy Ayres… George Duke… and whoever else I wanted to program. Including
Motown’s Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye… and just so much good music… The kids don’t even have a clue… they have nothing like it today.
Nobody writes good music any more… they don’t even know what it is to have 
anything called ‘good lyrics.’ They… the kids are too busy buying beats. A lot of which are stolen from times gone… times that music like that during which Val and Nick came from …and wrote during.
Though they …Val and Nick had long since turned their attention to other things …such as going into the restaurant business… New York’s Sugarbar and I forget what their first restaurant was called …it had been on 22nd Street also in Manhattan.
And whenever traveling home on I-95… as I passed Stamford, CT… my mind would always run across them, as I knew that for a while at least they had made their home in Connecticut.
Having their number I called them once while seeking investors for 1 of my feature film projects. Though I failed to reach them initially… you will never know to my surprise… how thrill I was to receive a call back from them concerning the message that I had left. Val told me that they were just getting ready to open up another restaurant… which was to become the Sugarbar. So, they couldn’t afford to do it at the time. She appologized and told me maybe the next time.
I hung up not at all feeling let down. All I could think was… wasn’t that nice for them to take the time to call me back?
This is my all time favorite song by Valerie Simpson and Nicholas Ashford.
While living in Chicago… Millie J… used to visit a friend of mine by the name of
Jean… who was Tyrone Davis’ sister. Millie had come to town to perform and while talking with Jean… I overheard her say-
“While I was coming through the airport guess who I came across? 
These two people walking around holding hands. I didn’t even have to look twice. I knew right off it was nobody but Nick and Val.”
They had that something special… kind of like what Michelle and Obama have. A total appreciation for each other… and a desire to always be in touch with one another… as though they cannot do or bear to be without each other.
Just a few seconds ago, a friend of mine informed me that Nick had dealt with sustance abuse. Never knew that …or ever heard that. So, I don’t know for sure. I have not seen him or Val for years now. But I know their music anywhere or anyhow I hear it.
Personally, I cannot imagine Val without Nick. She loved him… and held on to him. And he loved her… and held onto her. And together they held on to each other …a profoundly good example of 2 people who truly walked in love with one another. I certainly pray her strenght in the Lord… and that of their children and other family members.
I had heard his testimony. And what an awesome testimony he had had regarding how Go
d had saved and pulled him out of a messed up life of drug addiction… and having come from a home where nobody knew the Lord. How God had put someone in his path that gave him an invitation… and 1 day for whatever reason Zackery Tims, some 8 or so years ago… called a man on his job who had invited him to come and go to church with him. And that night he got saved… and his life was forever changed.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20092873-504083.html
A megachurch Pastor having a congregation of more than 4,000 members in the Orlando, FL area… on this past Wednesday, Pastor Zackery Tims was found dead on the floor of his Time Square hotel room. The first information said… heart attack. But later information started circulating… that a white powder sustance… cocaine had been found on him.
I had long ago stopped watching him … or some reason or other. I cannot remember why… but it always seems to me that as you watch some of these television evangelists… you like them in the beginning, but then they begin to shift. And everything about them and what they are preaching changes.
I cannot say that about Pastor Tims… because I cannot remember what prompted me to stop watching his program. And it might not have had been anything with him… but a time conflict between the show schedule and my schedule.
His eyes lately were watery or shiney… glossy I guess you could say… whenever I would happen to catch the tailend or some part of his show. And I am not just saying that because I am hoping that after the autopsy is finally released… it will show any drugs in his system. Because I am not… if anything quite the opposite.
I would hate to think that he would have been drawn back… into something that he was blessed enough to have been released from. But when you think back to the events that lead to his divorce… you have to think… Well, maybe.
He was involved with a stripper for a year… that is what the article read. But if it
read a year… then it is possible that it was for a longer time than that. While he was engaging in adultry with her… it is very likely that he was also indulging in other things too. And while that relationship may have ended… and who really knows… But if he was drinking or indulging in drugs as well… it is not so likely that he also just stopped abusing either. And do note I said ‘if’… because I don’t know.
I didn’t know him… or much about him except what most of you who also watched the Word Network knew about him. But I was watching the day he leaped upon the top of his pulpit podium to dramatize something he was preaching. I did think that was very odd… and all I could think was-
“That is suppose to be holy. How could he jump up on it?”
But it would seem that not much is still considered to be holy any more in church. 
I see preachers with baseball caps and hats on in the pulpit… and sweat suits and sneakers. Anything it seems goes today… whatever… however… whenever. My, Lord…
Whatever happened to reverencing the house …and the things of the Lord?
UPDATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 2012…As of New Years Eve this 
year Pastor Paula White has been chosen the Board of Regents of New Destiny Christian Center. And it would seem that since the autopsy done on the body of Pastor Tims was never released to the public…that drugs had indeed been found in the blood system of the late Pastor Zackary Tims.
With the announcement of Paula White becoming the chosen replacement… Well, it did not seem to sit right with Pastor Tims ex-wife. Tims’ ex-wife claims that Tims’ and her children are being robbed of their inheritance. You can read more on that by CLICKING the LINK below.
Since I am on the subject of Pastors… and since I did write a blog on it. Let me just note here that I read somewhere… or heard it… that Bishop Eddie Long quietly settled his cases 
with the young men who had filed law suits against him, for supposedly taking sexual advantage of them while they were under his religious leadership as young teenaged boys.
The settlement is said to have been $15 million total going out to the young men in question.
Perhaps it is a sign of the times… but I
sincerely hope not.
Visiting with a niece and enjoying myself. Can’t you tell?
I have so much time on my hands that I decided to take some of it to write this blog. I rarely have much time these days. I am on assignment… and must pick up my pace. I have to stay busy in the things of the Lord. And at the end of the day… I just want to be ready when He comes.
And for as long as I can remember that has not changed.
I still love this picture… It is sooooo refreshing looking.
Speaking of which… while talking with a cousin this evening… she told me that they were buckling down for a bad storm that they… the insurance claims agents of the company she works for …are being prep for if it should hit us this week on the east coast.
Better get out and pick up a few things for just in case. And no need to wait until the last minute… do it now since you have gotten 
some advance info.
One other thing… while here. My niece took me by Dr. Martin L. King’s house and the Center for Non-Violence. Took a picture with a tour guide who informed me that every house on his street was bought by the Federal Government… and the 
only house on the street that is not owned by the Federal Government on that street is the King house… which is still owned by the King family. But the house is open for tours …which are done on the half-hour. 
It was amazing watching the people… black and white touring the grounds of the King’s house and the Center for Non-Violence. And it is all free… parking and everything without any hassles.
Mrs. Coretta Scott King was a very smart woman. A woman who was determined that her husband’s death was not going to be in vain… or forgotten. And I mean she did it… and she didn’t do it half-stepping either.
Well, God bless…
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2011
4 comments August 23, 2011
What is the question here…
What is responsibility?
When somebody espouses a whole lot of trash talking in the ghetto…
Well, they just better be able to back it up or say nothing.
That is how it is in the hood.
Now, I have never lived in the streets or out on the lane …or down on the blvd. But I do know that when you fool around and talk a lot of junk you better be ready to back it up… or suffer the consequences.
During the pre-term elections recently held this past November… Sara Palin did a whole lot of big 
talking… before and after. Even as far as pasting up a bunch of cross-hairs upon certain campaign areas that she and her supposed ‘tea party’ crew… or group of flunkies… were aiming to take over.
This past weekend in 1 of those areas … a congresswoman was shot in the head and 6 others were killed in an area that Palin singled out on her cross-hairs map.
That sounds like a whole of lot of big time talk. The which if it had been done in the hood it would have meant all out and out war. Because it would have certainly meant that you were out to get somebody.
And it would have meant that you were gunning for them. And in hood talk… that means to kill ‘em.
You don’t go around drawing pictures like that in the hood… and nobody knows what it means?
No, that is a loud and cyrstal clear message… ask any black folks.
Frankly, such a thing should be as illegal as shouting “FIRE” in crowded place.
I do not think that it is a coincidence that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a Arizona State 
Representative, and liberal politican was shot in the head some 2 days ago.
Nor do I believe that the shooting was some ramdon act of some dissatified Arizonian voter.
No, I think that the picture is a lot bigger than that.
It is a picture of hate mongoering and fear embedding that became very popular under the Bush administration. Something that the Republicans have become very famous …or should I say… imfamous for doing. Then turning around and crying that they ‘had nothing to do with it.’
But the tactics are theirs. And they pull them out whenever a political race is hot… meaning close… and when they wish to get an upper hand.
So, they set about envoking weak minded people to do tragic things like shooting an innocent woman in the head, who was working hard to the benefit of the people which she represents.
And, yes.
Sarah Palin is to blame along with those who coach her. And they need to go up on charges of conspircy. For acting to incite individuals to go out and commit murder or other type of criminal acts against politicans that they are against.
If a person worked in an insane asylum and gathered up the interest of a resident in that asylum provoking that person to hate someone enough to hurt or even kill them. And the insane asylum 
person upon his release goes in search of the person they had been provoked against… and somehow hurts or otherwise kills the person… who would be to blame?
Clearly, the person who provoked the insane person to do so.
And the law would seek that person out.
So, why should Sara Palin and her people be any different?
This world is full of a lot of sick and/or weak minded individuals who listen and believe a lot of the political rhetoric that they hear… watch or read. A lot of it is devicely twisted to anger people falsely. And in cases such as in the Palin camp… they work to 
implant seeds of voilent acts.
And anyone who does this is looking for a violent outcome.
Why esle would anyone put up gun cross-hairs if they were not insinuating that someone should go out and shot somebody that they have set their sights upon?
That is the only reason why someone would do that.
And to do so is illegal.
And is certainly not a joke.
Lets say the shoe was on the other foot… and the congresswoman and launch a website and put 
up a map with gun cross-hairs on it. And in the center of those cross-hairs was Palin and her family.
What do you think would have been Palin’s out-cry?
Would there have been one?
Yes. You bet… and a loud one. And Palin would have been seeking some type of action. Maybe even legal I have no doubt.
The Republicans love double standards. They can play certain games… but not you.
You can’t… because they are quick to cry ‘foul.’
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_congresswoman_shot
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110110/ap_on_he_me/us_med_congresswoman_brain_injury
If a group of cons or crooks…. or drug cartel…. or thugs had mastermind such a thing without a doubt they would have all been rounded up by now and charged.
Is this not the same thing when a drug dealer puts a gun into the hand of little child 12 or 13 year old, and tells them to go out and shoot somebody?
They know that the little 12 or 13 year old is a kid, and not likely to serve a sentence as long as theirs would be, if they went out and perpetrated the crime themselves.
What is the difference between using weak minded people that do what some of these politicians tell them to do via their commercials and other rhetoric used to poison the minds of such people, in order to have them go out and do their dirty work?
I am for justice and totally against people who would ever try to inciderate anyone against somebody simply because we do not agree politically… or religiously. Or for any reason really.
In the 1980′s when the anti-abortion acted in simular ways… the outcome was abortion clinics being bombed, and abortion doctors were killed.
How crazy was that?
You don’t believe in abortion but you blow up people in an abortion clinic?
Or go out shooting abortion doctors?
What kind of life did they believe in?
Only that of the fetus… and not that of the adult people they were killing?
Is life not life?
Are we all to agree on every subject?
Just how boring would life be if we all submitted ourselves out of fear to being liked minded because someone was holding a gun over us.
Their is a sickness that prevails and is festing, least ways in this country, that makes 1 re-consider George Orwell’s book. And perhaps we need not look at Big Brother as a government system… but as a political party. The Republican Party.
Well, this is my first post for the New Year.
I was so busy prior to stepping into this New Year that I literally barely got any sleep for almost 8 days. A whole lot of legal work to take care of.
First of all, the city had come up agains my parent’s house for property taxes. And I had to act really quickly in order to try to head it off.
So, that is still in the works. Hopefully, we will get a court date and God will give the Judge to be kind.
Then there some other legal matters that I wanted to have out of hair before stepping into 2011… and finally I did manage to do that too.
So, you see I wasn’t just goffing off.
And I had to go out to shovel snow 2 times this past weekend. But thank goodness it was neither heavy or a lot of snow.
So, all is well.
And I am wishing you a great and highly prosperous year.
And thank goodness God is still on throne.
Well, God bless…
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family to em 
, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2011
Add a comment January 10, 2011
Obama’s speech to school children…21 murders Milwaukee
Really, what was all the fuss about?
Why were some so desparately against Obama delivering a speech to our school children?
What kind of brainwashing were all those Republican conservatives worried about?
Every opportunity our children can get to hear from someone who can encourage and inspire them…it should be availed upon them. And what a great thing for the President of this country to take the time out of his busy schedule to go to a local high school, and to impart his own personal story to them…and not only to tell students how important education is 
to them…but also to be a living and shining example of the heights that education can bring them.
What I wouldn’t have done to have been a student in a school where the President of this country happened to stop by to challenge us to be successful. And then to take the time to step down off the stage and to shake their hands…certainly an event those students in the Wakefield High School will remember for the rest of their lives.
Any parent who was suckered into keeping their child home for the 
purpose of missing President Obama’s speech to students…was seriously mis-informed. And their child missed out on something not only historic…but great and beneficial to them.
Some things are just absurb. And certain controversies utterly 
ridiculous.
Imagine parents sending notes to schools and telling school districts that they did not want 
their child to hear Obama’s speech to students.
Imagine school districts making decisions not to allow any of their students to watch or hear it.
Then imagine a world full of bias, pomptous, ignorant and quite foolish people. Oooh…you really don’t have to imagine that. Just take a look around…the world is full of them…many sitting in high positions.
http://news.aol.com/article/obama-school-speech-text/658197
It is hard to believe that it has taken 21 years for the police in Milwaukee to final solve a string of serial murders.
After 21 years…Milwaukee police have finally apprehend a supposed murder of some 9 black women.
Perhaps the fact that they were as called in the news article and other media ‘a bunch of prositutes and addicts’ had something to do with the reason why no real attention was given to this case.
Over a period of 21 years, I have no doubt that perhaps there may have even a couple of ‘copy cat’ murders thrown into that pan. And why not?
After all, the police couldn’t have really cared in the first place becaus
e the victims were poor undesirables. That’s what they were…undesirables…least ways maybe that is what the police in Milwaukee felt about them.
Just trash…waiting to be thrown out or away.
Of no real human good…the lot of them.
So, their murders went barely touched for some 21 years. City finances and that sort of thing, you know. The money couldn’t be spared…and there were more important things to do with the city’s money. ..than to stop a slew of murders against black women.
They were black, you know?
So, what did it really matter?
And then for the Milwaukee police department and city officials to want to pat themselves on the back for having finally possibly solved a 21 year old murder spree…how pious and self-righteous of them.
rds to tracking down a murder of young black women.
It reminds me very much of the Atlanta child killings. How long did that go on before the police really began to do something about it?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155774,00.html
And yet…I have never believed that they arrested the right person or perhaps the only person responsible for all those young boys and a few girls who were killed throughout the city of Atlanta from the period of 1979-1981.
There is a great injustice when skin color determines the amount of urgency, resources, effort and monies put into a case.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/45348447.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/19/wisconsin.serial.killer/index.html
While school has started I am very happy to say…you won’t find me in any classrooms this fall. Well, not taking any classe anyways.
No, because I am just to busy still looking forward to the day that my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE, rolls off the press. And when it does…I will be out promoting it.
Well, I’ ve got to get some sleep now.
Hope you enjoy your day.
Well, God bless… and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009
THE BISHOP’S WIFE is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book. You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card. Thank you.
Add a comment September 9, 2009
Aretha’s diet…losing weight… finding someone
Didn’t she look good?
Heard her talk about being on a diet…and when she showed up at Barack Obama’s inaugural in her grey suit with 
her Sunday morning go to church hat…she looked fabulous.
She was most recently spotted here on her way from the White House…pushing a shopping cart in Walmart. Signed autographs 
and took pictures…and people crowded around. I said I wanted to see the pictures…but my son saw them. And he said-
“Ma, it was her.”
I thought it interesting when I saw that Obama’s oldest daughter made sure she got a shot of Aretha w
ith her camera during the inaugural ceremony. Those Obama’s are teaching their children well. She knew Aretha and who it was she was looking at…and she wasn’t going to let Aretha get pass her without grabbing a picture. Smart girl.
I didn’t know that Aretha had signed up with Jenny Craig back in 2007. She might have lost some pounds…but evidently had like most…put them back on and then some. But at the inaugural she really looked great. And I was happy to see that she had shed lots of that extra added bagage…those dirty little pounds.
Her plan was this…
I heard her comment on some show that…she eats what she’s suppose to for 4 or 3 days…then on 3 days eats whatever she wants. I think that is a great plan…because it seems to be working for Lady Re.’
Now, I have just found out what it really is. She has a new somebody in her life. It will make you want
to do something… and real quick. Get somebody…and see if you don’t want to make sure he only has eyes for you. Oh, yeah…you’ll start losing real quick.
And don’t have him look good. Because if he looks good…you will want to look good with him. No self-respecting woman would think any differently. And Aretha is the real r-e-s-p-e-c-t woman…didn’t you know?
I just hope that this one is the one she has always been hoping for. After 3 or 4 prior marriages…a bout with the bottle (many many years ago)…one of her mansions burning down…and some 
local legal worries. I think it is about time…for plenty of happiness in her life.
And I certainly wish you well, Lady Re.’
One thing about Aretha Franklin…no matter what…you can always say that she has been a class act. I remember when I had considered her for a concert gig…the price tag, however, was a bit too much for this little ol’ country girl…$65,000.00 with a quarter of it up front…and I think maybe a precentage. Now, that is business.
But that whole diet thing is mind over matter. If your mind is not there…then save yourself from the bother. It won’t work.
But if you can get your mind there…you have won before you start.
I know some people who did the gastric bypass and a few other things. Though I 
must say…my friend who did the lap band raved about. And she truly did look good. But she told me that before she did it she went to meetings and read lots of information on it first. And she said she spoke in great detail with the doctor who was going to handle her surgery…and she too told me she was on her way to the altar once again.
I must admit to admiring women…and men who don’t want to just lay around with everybody. And then find out that have nothing.
Marriage is good…and if you are going to be with somebody then let them marry you.
But that gastric bypass…I have a sister who did it. She can’t eat anything without getting sick to her stomach. And the worst part is…though…yes, she lost lots of weight and even though she can’t keep much down…she is still over weight. And it is 
all due to not having gotten her mind to where it needed to be. Sick or not she eats and then throws up some of everything she eats. I would hate to live like that.
If you really want to lose weight…learn how to put the fork down first. And believe me…you won’t need anything else.
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2007/05/30/aretha_franklin_chooses_celebrity_diet_t
http://www.singersroom.com/news/entertainment-story-841.asp
It’s Black History Month…so enjoy…
Wow…the kids do not have anything compared to this.
I hope all of this downloads properly…and doesn’t take too much time. Guess I got a bit carried away.
Enjoy your day…and this weekend. It’s freezing cold outside…but the funny part 
is that the house doesn’t seem quite so cold to me any more. Guess I must be getting used to it. My father would smile. All of my life I have been cold…because I am extremely anemic. I, in fact, am suppose to be taking iron tablets everyday…and I do when I can remember. But I have to really work on that.
Since, so many people have so much more to take by way of medication…and if I desire not to join them… Well, you know… I better take what I have to right now. Because based upon what they say having a low number of red blood cells can be very unhealthy. And I do not want anything to sneak up on me.
Between yesterday and today…it has looked like snow. In fact, there were flurries this morning. Might be too cold…it can’t snow when the weather is too cold. But I guess even in that we are doing okay…because Vee, my friend’s daughter in Chicago…had told me that Chi-town was definitely freezing.
Well, God bless…
THE BISHOP’S WIFE is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book. You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card. Thank you.
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009
11 comments February 21, 2009
